The purpose of this blog is to update you on the happenings of Sister Andelin as she serves the people of Nevada in the Las Vegas West Mission as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

December 24: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Welp. I am currently sitting in the family history center, typing this email.

The libraries up here in the north end of town are very small and are bombarded with missionaries, so we escaped here and don't have to wait to email home.

I miss my old area and companions. The Diaz's drove me to transfers and then to my new house. And when I had to say bye, I just cried and cried. It was truly like I was leaving home again- for the second time.

Northern Vegas is VERY different from where I just came from. Like very different. BUT I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT!

I live with an 88 year old lady, named Donna. She is the funniest person alive. She has so much energy that it is ridiculous. She is a little firecracker. She treats us very well here. And we love her so much and she loves us. We call her Grandma D.

I love my new companion, Sister Larsen. She is incredible. Very talented. We get along great and have had many hilarious moments thus far.

We've had a pretty busy week this past week, considering that we're both new and just trying to get to know the area. We are blessed with some good solid investigators. One of them has MS and is confined to a wheelchair, so we had the privilege of walking her to and from church on Sunday because she lives so close to the building. Another is from Argentina and has been coming to church pretty solidly for about a year or so. And another is in her 80s, from the Virgin Islands, and has also had a good record of church attendance.

The ward here is incredible. They have just opened their arms to us and welcomed us with so much love. And they're so missionary minded! They constantly invite people over for dinners, to church, etc etc.

Oh and guess how many sets of missionaries are in the ward I'm in now....

4.

One set of young elders. One set of young sisters (us). A set of single sisters. And an older couple.

But the other two, have specific missions-- welfare services and addiction recovery.

But still.

It's weird sharing a ward with elders. But kind of cool.

Guess where we are spending Christmas Day????

At Uncle Alan Ozaki's :) He lives in my new zone boundaries, so he is letting us spend Christmas with him. Elder Andelin might be coming over as well for a little part of the day. So I'll probably call closer to 12/1 my time, but I'm not sure. I'm so excited to call yall!!!

Speaking of which, it is so funny having him as my district leader. We had a district breakfast the other day and I started a transfer-long competition. The district is going to have to determine who the better Andelin is at the end- the female or male version. :) Haha. Also, people in his old ward, still remember him and so they'll ask if we are related. I like to tell them, "Yes, we are. In fact, I'm his better half." And then proceed to tell them I'm just kidding.

My new zone is awesome. There is so much musical talent, it is ridiculous. We went caroling last night to our investigators, by our districts. Then we went to the mission home (they live like 10 min away from us) as a zone and we caroled to them. They were so excited and they let us in and we spent some time there. And then all these missionaries showed off their musical prowess to them. I thought of Thom-butt Fairholm and how much he would have enjoyed/appreciated it :)

So I have had an experience where I have literally feared for my life. We have been going through our area list and hitting up LA and DNCs (those are my favorite). Well we saw these words written next to one of the DNCs--- "Attacked a missionary. Bit him. Dangerous!" So what do we do after we read that? We go to that house of course. The outside is covered in anti-government like-shrines. We slowly walk to the doorbell and press it. After standing about 10 feet away from the door, with no sign of movement in the house, we get ready to leave. Then we hear a voice from beyond the door say "Who is it?"

Dang it.

"The missionaries!"

"The who?"

"The sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!"

"Oh!!"

She opens the door. But we can't see her because of the storm gate in front.

Then she opens the storm gate.

"Come on in! It's cold out there!"

Really dang it. My heart is pounding....I scramble for the phone-- "Uh..you know what, actually someone is calling us right now and we..." There is no ring and I am holding the phone up like an idiot.

"Well come on in and take the call. I don't bite." (Ironic, right?)

She grabs Sister Larsen's arm and welcomes her in.

I figure if my companion is going to die, I'm going to die with her.

.......To be continued.......

I'll have to tell ya the rest of this story on Christmas day!!! Tehe. I hope the suspense is strong!

I love you all. Things here are going great.

God is great. The gospel's good. And Vegas is crazzzy. (Sing to the country song)

Love yall!

EEEEEEKKKKKK. I can't wait to see yall....auhwiueryhauihskdfhsek

Love,

Sister Andelin

P.S. Thanks for the hand-written/scaned ghetto letters- Justin, Amberlie, and Taylor! Haha. It made my day